


not quite paris

by tonyang (kurusui)



Category: HOTSHOT (Band), Oh My Girl (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: 94 line, AU, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22171108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurusui/pseuds/tonyang
Summary: In the present, time clicks over and Hyojung’s engulfed in hugs and confetti. Her phone buzzes with texts, greetings -I miss yous,as well, and the TV blasts some idol music she doesn’t recognize but wishes she could’ve written.
Relationships: Choi Hyojung/Ha Sungwoon, Choi Hyojung/Kang Seulgi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	not quite paris

**Author's Note:**

> i’ve been watching lots of terrace house lately! not a terrace house au per se, but you know if you know.
> 
> recommended listening is [square (2017) - yerin baek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hROi9pWkZfE)

“Isn’t the idea of being in love great?” Seulgi sighs. It’s a Saturday afternoon and she doesn’t have work so Mijoo and her are nursing cocktails they made earlier while playing Seulgi’s favorite movie, _Before Sunrise_. It’s about the 50th time they’ve seen it so Hyojung spread out her pencils on the coffee table and started working on a new page in her flower-themed coloring book.

“With who exactly?” Mijoo asks, raising an eyebrow. “Even though you have terrible taste I know you don’t see any of the guys you know as boyfriend material.”

“I don't necessarily want to be in an relationship,” Seulgi clarifies from her lounge chair, where her legs are strewn across the arm. “I just want to be in love.”

“How is that not the same thing?”

Hyojung flips the page to an outline of a carnation.

“You can like someone without dating them. It’s just a different stage in the process.”

Mijoo folds her arms. “So you like someone?” Seulgi shakes her head and laughs.

Hyojung pulls the other earbud away from her face and asks, “Does anyone want something to drink?”

“I’ll have another,” Seulgi says, hand outstretched so the glass dangles in the air; Mijoo waves her off. As she walks up the basement stairs Hyojung can hear the faint trails of their conversation. Seulgi sighs again, and she says: “I can’t wait to be in love.”

“Ten minutes until the new year!” Seulgi yells. Mijoo’s laid out all the party poppers on the table, so Hyojung has nothing to do but stew in memories the alcohol’s dredged up.

University feels like yesterday but with each new year Hyojung is further confronted with the fact that she’s growing old alone.

University, all things said, was different. Hyojung wore sweats to class almost every day, and it was okay because she had no one to impress.

Sungwoon would always laugh at her though. “Don’t you care a little that you look like a middle-schooler?” 

“I don’t,” she said. She pouted as facetiously as possible. “I look cute, then.” 

“You can’t fool me,” he said back, wincing, but he couldn’t keep a straight face for long and both of them burst into laughter. One class turned into eight semesters of music, jokes and loyalty.

Hyojung never told anyone this but her insecurities peaked in her early 20’s. So when Ha Sungwoon chose to pinch her cheek and help support her self-made pedestal it really, genuinely meant a lot to her. 

In the present, time clicks over and Hyojung’s engulfed in hugs and confetti. Her phone buzzes with texts, greetings - _I miss yous,_ as well, and the TV blasts some idol music she doesn’t recognize but wishes she could’ve written.

When Sungwoon walks up the stairs to the balcony table, Hyojung is already there. Kind of like he’d imagine in a movie, she turns around with a bright smile on her face. Red dress, pearl necklace. Open air brushing through her brown hair. “Long time no see, huh?”

“You know,” he says, taking his seat, “I waited for you at the entrance! I thought there would be no way you’d get here first.”

“I couldn’t resist,” Hyojung says. “I needed a look at this view.”

Sungwoon finally gets the chance to look out at the Seoul skyline flanking them. It’s already dark out, Hyojung having made a 7:30 reservation for dinner. Sungwoon had requested that much from her. For the privilege of choosing where they dine.

“How much does this view cost?” he asks behind an open menu. The lights glow yellow in the night sky.

She winks. “It’s priceless.” Same old Hyojung.

“How’s work these days?”

The table vibrates on cue as if it’s angry, pushing itself to the edge. Sungwoon glances up and Hyojung lifts up her phone, emails someone on her staff back, eyebrows furrowed. She’s always looked so funny when she concentrates.

“They’re working on a song without me. I’m sorry, I told them not to bother me,” she says, laughing. Drops her phone into the open cavity of her handbag on the floor beside her feet. “I told them it was important.”

Sungwoon suddenly feels apologetic. “It didn’t have to be today,” he says. “We could have met another time if you’re busy with projects.”

“It had to be today,” Hyojung cuts in.

“But why?”

“I didn’t call you here for closure,” she says, “but I think I might as well get it. Hey, promise me you’ll let me pay the bill tonight?”

“You already know I can’t do that,” Sungwoon answers, already cycling through the usual tactics in his mind: tell the waiter it’s his treat, appeal to them with “I’m the man” stereotypes, lie about using the restroom and pay instead. Their food isn’t even out yet.

Hyojung sighs, head resting on the support of her right hand. “Of course you wouldn’t agree to that.”

“It’s always more fun when we compete to pay, right?”

“Not everyone’s as good about it as you,” Hyojung tells him. “Not every guy is as good as you.”

“Please.” He laughs, but when he sees her reaction, he stops smiling.

“I don't think you understand,” she says, “that I used to be in love with you.”

He looks up but she’s looking away. Sungwoon had no idea. 

“Used to?” It’s how she said it, overemphasizing it. As if she was training herself to believe in the words.

“Maybe I still am. Is that important?”

When Hyojung cries she is still youthful in appearance but somehow it sounds different than it did at nineteen. More grown up, weathered. He hadn’t paid enough attention to how she had matured.

“I’m sorry I’ve hurt you,” Sungwoon tells her helplessly. “You deserve better.”

“That’s not the point at all,” Hyojung says, and covers her face with her hands.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers. Sungwoon stands up, legs pushing his chair back instinctually, and then he just hovers. It’s not like he can hug her now.

“You should have stopped being nice when you got a girlfriend,” she says.

It’s really not him trying to be courteous when he doesn’t say anything back. Sungwoon hands her a handkerchief, an artifact of the past his father always insisted he carry around. Hyojung wipes her face, futile when it’s not ready to dry.

“You’re _detrimentally_ too nice,” she says, through tears.

“You know,” Seulgi says over coffee, “Mijoo always tells me if you invite someone out it means you like them and that I need to be more careful.”

Hyojung laughs. “More than one boy has literally come to our front door looking for you when you were completely oblivious to the fact that they felt anything for you.”

“I know she’s just looking out for me,” Seulgi says. “But it’s kind of funny, actually. No girls have ever done that, right?”

Hyojung takes a moment to think about it. “No, not that I can remember.”

“It just seems kind of odd,” she continues.

“I think girls just have inhibition that guys don’t,” Hyojung says. She looks down at her latte.

“Are you okay?”

Seulgi had asked her to go out for coffee that morning. Truthfully, Hyojung had still been crying last night, but she thought she did a good job of hiding that from her roommates. The less perceptive ones, anyway.

“I used to dream,” Hyojung says, “of producing for him, and he’d be singing my songs, the ones I’d have written. I know it was idealistic but it just sucks, you know?”

“I know,” Seulgi says. “But it’s not the end.”

“It feels like the limit to what I can achieve,” Hyojung admits. “I’m still here at what, 27? How have I not done more?”

Seulgi’s voice is gentle. “You have to believe in yourself.”

Hyojung’s always thought of her as kind, but she remembers something now. When she moved into the unit and met Seulgi the first thing she felt was instant comfort. It was a lot like when she first met Sungwoon.

“Patience, I think, is the key,” Seulgi says, her voice drifting in and out of focus, Hyojung again lost in her memories. “Good things come to those who wait.” Seulgi always believes in those, the cliche sayings that don’t really mean anything at all but make you want to have faith anyway. 

Hyojung can believe it too. Seulgi has never led her astray before.

“Love, I hope, also comes to those who wait.”

"And so we wait," Hyojung says. Seulgi grins.


End file.
